You can if it is allowed by law and the path is acceptable. There are more and more shared paths popping up, some better than others.

Some of them are just a bumpy narrow footpath that someone put bicycle signs on, but others are better. As long as it isn't too rough it can be done no problem. Even carbon clinchers will handle it provided you watch for bigger bumps or debris.

But watch out for smashed glass - or you'll be going through tyres and tubes like there is no tomorrow. And also watch out for nutty pedestrians doing totally unpredictable things. They have a love of sudden movements without any indication. They'll happily have their head down looking at the ground running along in iPod world, and then suddenly turn right when you are going past them at 10km/h.

You only need watch how some of them cross roads without looking, that's warning enough and enough encouragement to keep your speed down.

If you do see the lovely Jane Caro walking towards you - please hold an umbrella out at right-angle to you as you approach her.

Legally speaking- yes if you are in queensland, other states vary from no to maybe.

Practically speaking- absolutely. Sure there will be the odd bump or join between bits of concrete but the much slower speed more than makes up for it. A hybrid would probably be more comfortable though, right tool for the job and all that. Road bikes are perfectly capable of dealing with gravel roads and they are much bumpier than any footpath I've ever seen!

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments- Elizabeth West.

foo on patrol wrote:Not if there is a sign with a cred cross through a bicycle and that includes QLD.

Foo

Ah I've never seen one of those, excuse my ignorance .

Going too fast to notice?

You can ride on any footpath but rarely legally. If you honestly believe that slowly on a footpath is on the whole safer than mixing it with the smokeboxes in certain areas then it's up to you to make that call at the time. Just be careful about it.

...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.London Boy 29/12/2011

In WA footpath riding is generally used as a solution to less friendly roads. Also the police do not enforce the law as you can watch cyclists in Perth CBD riding on footpaths and the police move out of the way for them.

That said, riding on a footpath does need to be slow, giving way at all times to pedestrians, and watch out for crossovers, driveways and side roads.

People on footpaths tend to ride slowly as they aren't supposed to be there so have almost legal support in an accident. At that speed, you could ride a MTB singletrack course on a roadie without fear. As always, the issues of durability are related to impacts at Speed. A roadie can handle very minor bumps without certain death at 40 but will be destroyed on a bad footpath at 40 over a few months while your MTB will be fine. Wheels out of true, flats, buggered hubs, headset. Paris rubioux is a great example of road bikes at 100% in horrible conditions - for a few hours. They would not reuse the venges/madones/etc for race reliability after that.